rtz,
the gold gleaming in it here and there in long thin flakes. The passage
sloped gently upward, whilst it at the same time swept gradually round
toward the right hand; and though the air was somewhat close, there was
an almost utter absence of that damp earthy smell which is commonly met
with in subterranean chambers.

As they continued on their way the rocks about them gradually underwent
a change, the gold no longer showing in thin detached thread-like
layers, but glittering in innumerable specks and tiny nodules all over
the surface, so that, as the flickering uncertain light of the torch
fell upon the walls, they glistened as though covered with an unbroken
coating of gold-leaf.

But this novel appearance, attractive as it was, was nothing to the
surprise which awaited them further on. They had penetrated some eight
or nine hundred yards, perhaps, into the bowels of the earth, and were
thinking of returning, when they suddenly emerged from the passage into
a vast cavern, so spacious in all its dimensions that their tiny light
quite failed to reveal the farther side or the roof. But what little
they _did_ see was sufficient to root them to the ground, speechless for
the moment with wonder and admiration.

The rocky floor upon which they stood was smooth as a marble pavement,
apparently from attrition by the action of water through countless
centuries, though the place was now perfectly dry. What chiefly excited
their admiration, however, was the circumstance that the floor was not
only smooth, it was as polished as glass, and in places quite
transparent, while it glowed and sparkled with all the colours of the
rainbow. They seemed to be standing on a surface of purest crystalline
ice, seamed, streaked, veined, and clouded in the most marvellous and
fantastic manner with every conceivable hue, through and into which the
faint light of their torch gleamed, flashed, and sparkled with an effect
of indescribable splendour.

"Oh, Lance!" whispered Blanche at last, "was ever anything so lovely
seen before?"

"A perfect palace of the gnomes, darling, is it not?" returned Lance in
his usual tone of voice; and then they stood awe-struck and enthralled,
as his words were caught up by countless echoes and flung backward and
forward, round and round, and in the air above them, in as many
different tones, from a faint whisper far overhead to deep sonorous
musical bell-like notes reverberating round the walls and echo